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SNS

The stone gateposts and main entrance of the Hospital Dona Estefânia in Lisbon, with a nurses' union banner reading Fortalecer o SNS hung on the boundary wall

Four Anaesthetists Leave Lisbon's Children's Hospital in October, a Fortnight After Its Emergency Chiefs Quit Their Posts

The health unit says three of the four were already absent and the fourth worked part time, and that it has hired ten people since June. The doctors' body puts the national shortfall at 600 anaesthetists.

The Portugal Brief 19 Sep 2026

The tiled facade of Farmacia Almeida in Lisbon, its blue and yellow azulejos framing four arched shopfronts, with a bicycle parked at the kerb and customers at the open door.

Portugal's Free Flu Shot Now Covers Every Child From Six Months to Four, and the Private Supply Is the Part Under Strain

Norma 006/2026 opens the campaign on 30 September and adds two, three and four year olds to the free list. The SNS bought 2.3 million standard doses; pharmacists say the separate private allocation may be smaller than in past years.

The Portugal Brief 17 Sep 2026

The lit Urgencia emergency entrance of Hospital de Santa Maria in Lisbon at night, with yellow INEM ambulances parked outside and staff in scrubs by the doors

Portugal Logged 3,658 Patient Safety Incidents Last Year, and Nine in Ten Came From Staff Rather Than Patients

The DGS released the Notifica figures for World Patient Safety Day. Falls and pressure ulcers lead both lists, the total has sat near 3,500 a year since 2022, and the system is anonymous and non-punitive by design: it is not the complaints route.

The Portugal Brief 17 Sep 2026

The lit Urgencia entrance of the Hospital de Santa Maria in Lisbon at night, with INEM ambulances parked outside and staff standing by the revolving door

The Pay Order That Decides Whether Portugal's Emergency Rooms Stay Staffed Has Still Not Been Published, and the Locums Are Threatening October

A portaria setting hourly rates for medicos tarefeiros was due with the rest of the SNS package and has not appeared. Their association says a cut brings a massive stoppage, and hospitals have until 30 September to sign contracts nobody can price.

The Portugal Brief 16 Sep 2026

The shopfront of a working high-street pharmacy in Viseu, with the green pharmacy cross lit above the pavement and two people standing outside.

Patients Paid 571 Million Euros at Portuguese Pharmacy Counters in Seven Months, While the State's Share Climbed Four Times Faster

INFARMED's July report puts patient spending at 571.6 million euros, up 2.1 percent, and the SNS share at 1,179.3 million, up 8.3 percent. The average co-payment per pack actually fell two cents. What rose was volume, and one diabetes class accounts for a third of the increase.

The Portugal Brief 15 Sep 2026

The Hospital Curry Cabral in Lisbon seen from the street, its yellow blocks with red window surrounds standing behind a low wall, with cars parked outside and a crossing in the foreground.

The WHO Counted Sixty-Six Clade Ib Mpox Cases in Portugal in Six Weeks, More Than Germany, France and Britain Together

Monday's situation report puts Portugal third in Europe on cumulative clade Ib cases and first on recent ones. The last national bulletin the Direcção-Geral da Saúde published is dated 31 May 2025, and it says Portugal had recorded no clade Ib cases at all.

The Portugal Brief 14 Sep 2026

The Hospital Professor Doutor Fernando Fonseca in Amadora seen from below, with a bronze bust on a stone plinth in front of the entrance canopy.

Forty Percent of the Patients at Amadora-Sintra Are Foreign Nationals, and the Hospital Has Eight Emergency Doctors Where It Needs Thirty

Sandra Cavaca took over one of Portugal's most pressured hospitals in February. Eleven doctors have left the fixed emergency team, 200,000 people in its area have no family doctor, and it holds 0.8 beds per thousand residents against a national 3.7.

The Portugal Brief 13 Sep 2026

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